Elpie: Retailers got caught on the hop over the prices this weekend. According to the woman I spoke to at Noel Leeming customer services, they planned the 20% off Samsung part of their sale months ago and well before they knew the release date of the SGS3. They did not add the SGS3 to their catalogue or website because they didn't want to have to sell it at discount immediately after launch. However, even though they had to give 20% off to anyone who asked for it on the SGS3, their terms and conditions say this is " only while stocks last".

She said some stores overlooked these terms and took rain checks. They were not supposed to ever offer the blue ones at the discounted price as they never had stock of these while the sale was on. But some stores messed up. With it being a long weekend they were having difficulty in getting head office to issue a notice to all their stores so, in effect, we all benefited because Noel Leeming stuffed up.

The other stores then got caught out with their price match policies. Most of those also have conditions about, "while stocks last". From what the guy at Warehouse Stationary told me yesterday, WHS was really unhappy about discounting down so low but once their stores started doing it the others pretty much had to follow suit. They didn't expect so many customers to know about the discount.

I think all of us who saved $100 or more on these phones got a damned good deal. We benefited from one chains oversight and good on all the other retailers who bit the bullet and matched prices.

Uh oh... so does that mean by tomorrow most of the stores will just tell me they don't have any more stock and there's nothing I can do about it..?

Totally agree that the price (for me $839) was superb for outright purchase. I went into Noel Leemings and saw the were advertised for 1049. I asked the sales assistant how much to purchase one and she pointed to the price and said $1049. I then asked her what about the discount to which she acted surprised and said 'oh, yes that is right, the 20% off, that will make it $839.'

It was clear to me that she knew very well the discounted price for the handset, but was going to if possible, sell it to me for full price. To her credit the moment I mentioned the discount she acknowledged the 20% saving.

I was also lucky in that the only models they had left were Vodafone as that's me. Good score all round and hats of to Noel Leemings for honoring what appears to be a slip up (perhaps).

Elpie: Retailers got caught on the hop over the prices this weekend. According to the woman I spoke to at Noel Leeming customer services, they planned the 20% off Samsung part of their sale months ago and well before they knew the release date of the SGS3. They did not add the SGS3 to their catalogue or website because they didn't want to have to sell it at discount immediately after launch. However, even though they had to give 20% off to anyone who asked for it on the SGS3, their terms and conditions say this is " only while stocks last".

She said some stores overlooked these terms and took rain checks. They were not supposed to ever offer the blue ones at the discounted price as they never had stock of these while the sale was on. But some stores messed up. With it being a long weekend they were having difficulty in getting head office to issue a notice to all their stores so, in effect, we all benefited because Noel Leeming stuffed up.

The other stores then got caught out with their price match policies. Most of those also have conditions about, "while stocks last". From what the guy at Warehouse Stationary told me yesterday, WHS was really unhappy about discounting down so low but once their stores started doing it the others pretty much had to follow suit. They didn't expect so many customers to know about the discount.

I think all of us who saved $100 or more on these phones got a damned good deal. We benefited from one chains oversight and good on all the other retailers who bit the bullet and matched prices.

Uh oh... so does that mean by tomorrow most of the stores will just tell me they don't have any more stock and there's nothing I can do about it..?

like i said before WHS made me wait 20m before they rang head-office see if they could go lower than 840 and i don't think they are happy about it at all ....i say by tomorrow ,they might even say we just ran out of stock or sum other excuse of selling it so low ....... come tuesday there will be no discount. try get in tomorrow

Question about screen protectors. I was told by one of the reps that its not a good idea to use a screen protector (with all the proximity sensors). Has any one that has the phone is planning on using a screen protector? I am currently not using one.

I would suggest that an 'in demand' product like the SGS3 will be a take it leave it option when you try to bargain. You can just about guarantee that head office will be asking some questions of the NL branches that have accepted raincheck orders. Mind you it was their miscalculation as they offered both Samsung AND vodafone/telecom discounts when they easily could have excluded the SGS3 in the same smallprint as iOS devices and game consoles. As I said previously this has set the benchmark price for the SGS3 of around $800. A great price when you consider what the SGS2 cost only a year ago.

fallen: Question about screen protectors. I was told by one of the reps that its not a good idea to use a screen protector (with all the proximity sensors). Has any one that has the phone is planning on using a screen protector? I am currently not using one.

I'm still deciding on this. Protector would definitely stop the glass from getting scratched, but then again, it's Gorilla Glass 2, and any scratches that do occur are very light/faint and don't affect the overall usage of the phone at all.

Lol Guys. You can't get better price than $919.20 for the 32GB version. :) I am happy with my deal from NL and $839 for 16GB is an awesome price even parallel import won't have it this cheap until 6 months later and warranty is dodgy too. So why complaining about $13 different for?